Chapter 143: Stepping into the Light - 15
Chapter 143: Stepping into the Light - 15
Beastmen are strong by nature.
The females are not so different from humans, but the males possess vastly superior muscle strength, endurance, and reflexes.
In terms of pure physical ability excluding Mana, they rank among the highest of all species.
Among them, tiger beastmen rival lion beastmen as the most notoriously powerful of their kind.
As Jiha slowly approached, Lungtao moved in response.
The two men circled each other, studying one another as if they had agreed on it in advance.
They paid no attention to the eyes watching them. Every ounce of focus went into reading each other.
'I gain nothing by subduing Lungtao right now.'
Killing him on the spot wouldn't make his subordinates fall into Jiha's lap.
From the looks of it, Lungtao possessed considerable charisma, and the other escort guards seemed to trust and follow him.
'I did consider taking the Dirga if things went wrong... but it'd be better to take this one too. Should I just test him here, then?'
The two men had done nothing but circle and assess each other. To break the standoff, Jiha deliberately stepped on a piece of wood debris scattered across the floor.
Crack.
Lungtao grinned and threw himself forward.
Jiha reinforced his body with Mana and met him head-on.
Boom! Boom!
Their fists collided in mid-air.
A clash of fists with a tiger beastman—the strongest of all beastmen.
An ordinary human's hand bones would have shattered instantly, but Jiha's body was fortified with Mana.
But the gap in weight and mass was too great.
Jiha's body was well conditioned from survival training, but a 198-centimeter tiger beastman operated on a completely different scale of muscle efficiency and body weight.
The impact force of their punches was comparable, but sheer mass pushed him backward.
"Hoh!"
Lungtao let out an exhilarated roar and immediately pressed in, unleashing a flurry of blows.
Meeting him head-on meant taking a loss no matter what. Jiha focused on dodging and deflecting.
Even through his Mana-reinforced body, each strike landed with the impact of a sledgehammer. It was a merciless barrage that would have turned any normal human into pulp in seconds.
'Strong...'
If Warsland were a world without Mana, this man would have become the ruler of an entire region with his fists alone.
Amid the straightforward blows splitting the air, Jiha slipped in a counterattack.
"Huh?"
Lungtao frowned at the shock that reverberated through his armor and stepped back.
Even while evading, Jiha had jabbed a fist into the joint of Lungtao's wrist.
The wrist is a weak point for any living creature, and beastmen are no exception.
Lungtao's punches were powerful, but they lacked feints. They were all linear attacks. Once Jiha read their trajectory, avoiding them and countering was no great feat.
His form wasn't textbook, but since he struck with Mana behind it, that hardly mattered.
Lungtao was impressed.
"You understand your own capabilities well."
In pure hand-to-hand combat, a human can never match a tiger beastman.
The gap in weight, strength, and durability is like that between a three-year-old child and a professional fighter.
Even a Unique would never willingly face a tiger beastman barehanded.
But Jiha had reinforced his body with Mana and thrown out the conventional wisdom of a brawl—the fact that even a half-hearted blow would still transmit impact.
Lungtao made the offer once more.
"I'll say it again. Won't you come under me?"
"Are you telling me to become a Dirga's escort guard, or your subordinate?"
"It's the same thing."
Bran, who had been watching, let out a sharp objection.
"Wait, Lungtao. I can't let that slide. The escort guards are not your personal soldiers."
"There you have it. So what do you say?"
"Those who wish to become a Dirga's escort desire powerful weapons, and the Dirga desires stronger men as her escorts. As long as that condition is met, I don't see how the finer details matter."
As Lungtao smiled, Bran's frown deepened sharply.
"That's sophistry. The escorts gather for Lady Dirga. They don't gather to follow you."
"That may be true, but..."
Jiha tsked.
The escort guards watching from behind Lungtao were glaring at Bran with open displeasure.
'So that's how it became two families under one roof.'
Lungtao had subtly drawn the Dirga's escorts under his own authority, and Bran was resisting it.
Strictly speaking, Bran was in the right... but Lungtao possessed charisma.
"I'll hear your story after this fight is over. Jiha, won't you take this seriously?"
"You're playing around too."
Neither had drawn a weapon; they'd only clashed with fists because both wanted to feel the other out.
The moment weapons were drawn here, things would escalate.
Lungtao thought for a moment, then gripped the sword at his waist.
"It might not end with just arms."
"I might kill you too."
Jiha reached for the sword at his back as well.
Just as both were about to grasp their blades, the door burst open and people rushed in.
"Waris security officers. We received a report."
"A report?"
Lungtao and Bran looked baffled.
Jiha shook his head.
The plan he had laid in advance had triggered at the worst possible timing.
"Obviously the security officers were dispatched because outsiders were causing a disturbance. So, what now?"
"..."
Lungtao considered for a moment, then nodded.
He had realized this was Jiha's arrangement.
"Fine. We'll move inns."
"Wait, Lungtao. That's—"
"We lost. As proposed, the escort guards will each disperse and arrange their own food and lodging. We will act so as not to cause trouble or earn the innkeeper's resentment. Understood?"
Bran looked dissatisfied at Lungtao's unilateral decision, but one glance at the security officers made him nod.
"...I suppose we have no choice. Let's do that for now."
"Good. Withdraw."
At Jiha's word, the security officers looked flustered, but the on-site commander bowed his head to Jiha and withdrew.
They had been dispatched under special orders from the city lord in the first place.
The officers who had surged in like the tide receded just as fast. Bran's expression shifted.
He now understood that Jiha was no ordinary Common. He was a heavyweight who could move security officers with a single word.
"...What are you?"
"A man."
Jiha answered curtly, then looked at Lungtao and gave notice.
"I'm about to leave. Changed your mind? Going to stop me?"
"No. We don't know each other yet, so let's leave it here for today."
At the declaration that Jiha would be allowed to leave peacefully, the escort guards let out sounds of discontent.
From their perspective, Jiha had attacked first, and the thought of letting him walk away stung their pride.
But one look back from Lungtao quickly sealed their mouths shut.
"As promised, have everyone disperse immediately and find inns. I'll make sure no more than three share the same inn. Will that suffice?"
"Good."
Jiha dusted off his hands and turned.
"Let's go, Mayan."
After strolling out of the inn, Jiha walked while organizing his thoughts.
'The rumor will spread on its own: that I rented an inn cheap, used it fully, and drove out the Dirga's escort guards who were running rampant. The citizens will hear my name anew...'
Jiha was steadily working to win the hearts of Waris's citizens.
'The Dirga's escort guards, scattered here and there, will be simmering with resentment. If they cause trouble... or if they stay quiet, I'll arrange for trouble to happen. Then I'll openly suppress it and keep laying the groundwork.'
Having decided on his future approach, Jiha spoke to Mayan, who was following behind.
"Do you know anything about the Dirga?"
"They are wandering weapon merchants."
Mayan answered as smoothly as if she had been waiting for the question.
"A small-statured race said to be a subspecies of dwarves, though the Dirga themselves deny it. They are composed entirely of females. To leave descendants, they have no choice but to meet males of other species. It is said that all children of a Dirga are born Dirga."
"A race that doesn't produce mixed blood, then."
Mayan continued.
"The Dirga are a race with exceptional talent for crafting weapons. The weapons they make are called Dirga Weapons. Even at the same grade, they are far superior. A Grade 2 Dirga Weapon typically equals an ordinary Grade 1 weapon."
"Is that so."
"Naturally, many desire Dirga Weapons. But the Dirga only bestow their weapons upon men."
"They only give good weapons to men?"
This was information he already knew.
"Yes. They call it tradition and refuse to change it. It is said they typically grant Grade 3 Dirga Weapons to their escorts, Grade 2 weapons to a man they hold in higher regard, and a Grade 1 weapon to the one they choose as their fated companion."
"Fated companion?"
"A Dirga seeks to bond with one man for life and bear his child. There is talk that their wandering is also to find a superior man."
"What's the criteria? His face?"
Mayan shook her head.
"It is ambiguous. Judging by how they gather escorts, most believe it is a man of superior combat ability."
"Hmm, a Grade 1 weapon..."
"The Unique Narsha Russellarms, who is said to be coming, does not yet have a fated companion. For a Dirga, welcoming a fated companion is an event of such importance that they hold a festival and invite all the Dirga they know. If Unique Narsha takes a fated companion, it will be a grand festival indeed."
"I see..."
Then Lungtao was not Narsha's fated companion.
"A splendid wedding, then."
"No. The Dirga have no marriage culture. They desire a child from a man, not a legal covenant or binding tie."
"..."
Jiha stared at her.
Mayan was answering far too smoothly.
"Did you prep for this?"
Mayan hesitated, then wavered before revealing the truth.
"Lady Enril informed me."
"Enril? Why?"
"...She told me to tell you if you asked."
Knowing that Jiha had been running Mayan around lately, Enril must have prepped her just in case.
"The Lady told me to keep it a secret, but..."
Mayan had made her own judgment and revealed it to Jiha.
'She could just tell me herself. A terribly indirect approach...'
Jiha chewed over the meaning for a moment, then stopped and looked up at the sky.
Mayan naturally came to a halt half a step behind him.
Passersby glanced oddly at Jiha, who had stopped so abruptly, but Jiha closed his eyes and organized his thoughts.
Lungtao was a hero.
It's said that heroes recognize heroes, isn't it?
'I don't know if I'm a hero, though...'
Jiha had sensed what kind of man Lungtao was the moment they met.
He was using the Dirga as a figurehead, gathering the men drawn by Dirga Weapons under his own command.
'Similar to me...'
A man with ambition and a goal.
Bran opposed him, but while his martial strength was uncertain, he lacked charisma.
"That one will try to swallow me."
When Jiha spoke calmly, Mayan looked as if she did not grasp the meaning.
If Jiha intended to gather the Dirga's escort guards, then conversely, Lungtao would now try to learn about Jiha and devour Jiha's own forces.
He would begin investigating Jiha and looking for angles to exploit right away.
"Then the first thing I need to do is..."
Jiha made up his mind and looked at Mayan.
"Lead the way."
"Pardon?"
"I'm going to rest at Enril's house."
The Uniques Jiha had collected now numbered four.
Leticia had cut ties with the elves, Yura was completely subordinated to Jiha, and Asira was currently pulling herself together.
All things considered, the one he needed to settle things with fastest was Enril.
'Come to think of it, it's been the longest since I last fed on her blood... It's been two or three months. Her blood should have replenished plenty by now.'
Enril as an individual now followed Jiha, but she still wavered when the fate of her species was at stake.
'Today, I'll drink her blood and increase my Mana again...'
Jiha reached his conclusion.
He would make that dark elf completely his.
So that she would follow him forever.